SELF-REPORTED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, ENJOYMENT AND WELL-BEING OF GREEK YOUTH BASKETBALL PLAYERS

Abstract

Children and adolescents’ regular participation in sports can help them to increase their physical activity (PA) levels and fitness and to adopt healthy behaviors in adulthood. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of self-reported PA and enjoyment of youth basketball players with their well-being variables (self-rated health, self-esteem and subjective vitality). Participants were 208 male athletes (Mage: 13.88 ± 1.38 years), members of seven Greek basketball clubs, who voluntarily participated in this research. Data were collected prior to training with several valid and reliable questionnaires measuring PA, self-rated health, subjective vitality and self-esteem (Cronbach’s α = .66 to .82). The findings suggested that 71.5% of youth basketball players spend 6 to 7 days per week in moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) and 73.1% of them reported spend 5 to 6 hours per week in MVPA. There was no significant effect of age on players’ MVPA. Correlation analysis revealed that MVPA and enjoyment were positively related to players’ self-reported health, subjective vitality and self-esteem. Findings also revealed a direct effect of sport-related enjoyment on players’ self-rated health, self-esteem and subjective vitality, but not on their PA levels. Based on the above, it can be assumed that regular participation of children and adolescents in basketball training may contribute to increase or maintain their PA levels, to meet World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for PA and to improve their quality of life. Article visualizations: